Enron clause

A new report calls into question the Alberta government’s cost estimates in relation to power companies walking away from agreements and outlines the combination of factors that are making those agreements unprofitable.

Written by economists Trevor Tombe and Andrew Leach — who chaired the province’s climate change advisory panel — and published by the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy, the report deals with the controversy surrounding Power Purchase Arrangements in Alberta’s complex private energy market.

The government is going to court in an attempt to prevent the companies that own the PPAs from walking away from the arrangements — something the government said will cost Albertans $2 billion — citing the new increased emissions fees and Alberta’s new climate policy.